Kentucky Girl with Volunteer Spirit

Tennessee has always been known as the Volunteer State, but now, an eleven year old Kentucky girl is being rewarded for her volunteer spirit. She's just won the Kohl's Kids Who Care scholarship on the regional level.

Cassidy Pannell and her horse Cherokee have acres of land to go riding in Plano. But today, Cassidy's helping someone else take a ride.

"I tell the horse to walk and trot and stuff like that," Cassidy said.

Cassidy is a junior volunteer at New Beginnings Therapeutic Riding. It's a program that helps disabled children with strength and coordination, and Cassidy gives her all to her work.

"She has responsibilities of walking the horses, feeding the horses, bringing the horses up," said Lorri Siewert, New Beginnings instructor.

"I lead out in the classes and clean the stables. Just anything to do with the horses," Cassidy explained.

It's a hard job on a hot July day, but Cassidy's efforts don't go unnoticed. She's just won the Kohl's Kids Who Care scholarship on the regional level.

"That was really cool. I was excited," Cassidy admitted.

"It's just spectacular for her to be picked out from such a wide spectrum of kids who volunteer," added Siewart.

Regardless of her scholarship, Cassidy says the true reward is getting to do what she loves... riding horses and helping others in the process

"It's a lot of fun and I'm really lucky to be able to do it," Cassidy said.

The Kohl's Kids Who Care scholarship program is currently in its seventh years It has distributed one million dollars to recognize and reward young volunteers since 2000.

Online Public Information File

Viewers with disabilities can get assistance accessing this station's FCC Public Inspection File by contacting the station with the information listed below. Questions or concerns relating to the accessibility of the FCC's online public file system should be directed to the FCC at 888-225-5322, 888-835-5322 (TTY), or fccinfo@fcc.gov.